Pool filter sand

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Mebbid

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I remember a discussion a while back where people used pool filter sand in their reef tanks.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences with this?
 
My friend used it and didn't have any problems


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I've used it in at least a dozen tanks with no ill effects. Deep sands and regular depth as well. :) The only time I dont use it is when I want a certain look, such as pink fiji, which I have used a couple times as well.

I find the pool filter sand to be a good consistency for sifters and not too fine that it blows everywhere. And really, can you beat like $8 for 40lbs? lol
 
I've used it in at least a dozen tanks with no ill effects. Deep sands and regular depth as well. :) The only time I dont use it is when I want a certain look, such as pink fiji, which I have used a couple times as well.

I find the pool filter sand to be a good consistency for sifters and not too fine that it blows everywhere. And really, can you beat like $8 for 40lbs? lol
Haha thats a good point :) do you happen to have any pictures of it you could share?
 
The only difference is that it's made from quartz and not calcium. It's fine to use if you like the look of it.
 
I had a little bit of extra money I got from graduation and I was toying with the idea of setting up the new 29g hex I was given as a salt water tank. It wasn't much so it would have had to be on the super cheap hence the wondering about pool filter sand.

I decided instead to buy a doser and some other things for my 90g and hold off on the hex until I can afford to do it properly. Either that, or buy a 50g ish column tank.
 
I used play sand in my first tank the only thing was it was a cayno factory for around the first 8 months the sand was supposed to be silica free , any way after things came around the sand had a nice white glow to it ,
this is how it looked when I set it up than the beginnings of the cayno war , than after things cleaned up , I never let the cayno keep me from adding coral :D
img_3228204_0_48c6f0e95dbfc5c3b5c675e764b835dc.jpg


img_3228204_1_4f31076d8bd89436939beb4d0a48458f.jpg



2.jpg
 
thanks was a big $ scaping wasn't cheap
I know to bad it don't exist any more , been through 2 upgrades since , I do miss those tanks , but one must go bigger
 
No, I don't believe it does. I think the silica is very fine in the sand and most can be washed out. Most.


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I used play sand in my first tank the only thing was it was a cayno factory for around the first 8 months the sand was supposed to be silica free , any way after things came around the sand had a nice white glow to it ,
this is how it looked when I set it up than the beginnings of the cayno war , than after things cleaned up , I never let the cayno keep me from adding coral :D
img_3228531_0_48c6f0e95dbfc5c3b5c675e764b835dc.jpg


img_3228531_1_4f31076d8bd89436939beb4d0a48458f.jpg



2.jpg

you mean diatoms, don't you?
diatoms is what will bloom with a silicate based sand and those pics look like diatoms.

I just added some aragonite rock and sand and I am now enjoying the anticipated diatom bloom, luckily it is relatively minor.

nice little tank by the way.
 
All the pool filter sand I have used has come from a single source, the home depot. I even bought a silica test cause I was curious and after testing I have always come out with zero silicates. I have on occassion had diatoms when using it, but I use alot of dead rock too so that may be the cause. Either way, I have used it on tanks that were up for a couple years and had no ill effects. I even used it for a dsb in my 125g. had like 400lbs of sand in that baby. lol
 
Very good article. I noted this;

"Take a close look at some commercial “silica” sand. It isn’t even close to being white, which an absolutely pure quartz sand will be. There are all sorts of different colored particulates in it (some are even magnetic and can be picked out with a magnet). Without going into detail on mineralogy, suffice to say that there are many minerals that readily dissolve to release silicate into the water. Such dissolution is why freshwater rivers contain so much silica (typically 150 mM (9 ppm SiO2)).4 Your sand claims to be 98% quartz? What about that other 2%? Two percent of a 50-pound bag of sand is a pound of “other stuff”".


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We have no pure white quartz sand here. Most of our sand is from Jersey and it's pretty much beige...and not light beige either.
 
I guess the point is you need to use pure Quartz sand to not only avoid excess silica fines, but more important IMO it's the other soluble garbage it might have in it. Kind of like using tap water, most of its pure H20, but what's not can ruin your day.


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